Sweater frustration

My friends, I need to get something off my chest.

It’s about sweaters, and what appears to be my complete inability to find a sweater pattern/idea/inspiration that I like.

Ever since I completed the orange Filati tunic on September 20th, 2005 (OMG, that was an eternity ago), I’ve been searching and looking, browsing and Googling, all to no avail. Although I’m incredibly picky, my bar for what constitutes a “pattern” is set pretty low – I’m confident in my ability to re-size and alter, and even to mimic something for which there is no pattern at all – and yet there is absolutely nothing I’ve seen in seven months that has prompted me to pick up my needles, or get out my wallet, or locate my graph paper in the ever-growing pile of sock and shawl patterns.

What about coming up with something from scratch? I shake my head – my current circumstances don’t provide enough time for from-scratch endeavors. At least not for the way I do things – with serious obsessive-compulsive tendencies, if I may be so frank. And those tendencies are major time and energy investments. Mmmhhmmm, no doubt about that.

April is the season of patterns, and I eagerly anticipated the release of new issues of all the knitting magazines, online and printed. Knitty, MagKnits, Interweave, Vogue… Bottom line – I LOVE the Nautie pattern, but unfortunately it’s not a sweater!

What is my problem? I don’t think it’s a loss of knitting mojo because, well, I’ve got some exciting projects planned as soon as I’m done with my Sock-A-Pal socks. However, my plans do not include a sweater. Am I just becoming an accessories knitter? Socks and hats and scarves and shawls?

Perhaps.

Is there a problem with that? Well, I do feel a certain level of accomplishment from knitting a nicely-fitting sweater, which I cannot recreate with even the most intricate shawl. I kind of miss it, it feels really good.

Sigh. Some knitters have lists the size of dissertations of sweaters they want to knit, and I don’t have a single one.

*I didn’t blog about it, but that sucker was ripped in a fit of rage many, many months ago. I think the breaking point was measuring the finished and blocked and fully-dried sleeve after it had marinated in my knitting basket for two weeks only to find out that over the course of those two weeks, it had shrunk another two inches. A more wild ripping party I have never witnessed. I didn’t even take the time to wind the ripped yarn in some fashion – I just let it puddle around my feet in every which direction. After I came to my senses, I decided that the lovely light blue yarn will one day make a fabulous baby blanket, an object where shrinking two inches over the course of two weeks doesn’t matter nearly as much as it does for a sleeve.

53 thoughts on “Sweater frustration”

Do you get the Patternworks catalog? I really saw nothing in the afore mentioned mags that made me want to whip out needles or graph paper but there were some designs in the spring Patternworks supplement that had definite promise. If you don’t get it, call them or sign up on-line, you’ll have it in a couple of days!

I like the Cascade pattern that Alli linked, but what about one of Jenna’s (A Girl From Auntie) patterns? Rogue or her newest which escapes me now. Well-written patterns, nicely shaped sweaters with some unique cabling too!

I agree that even the most amazing Shetland shawl doesn’t have quite the same I-made-a-sweater-feeling (although the I-made-an-amazing-Shetland-shawl feeling isn’t bad either). Vogue Spring ’05 (I think) has the set of aquatic-inspired sweaters which involve a lot of lace, etc. Perhaps a lacy sweater would bridge this gap?

The magazines are really cheap if you get them directly from phildar in france, I just got 5 and it was 27 euro including shipping. They include a chart for every stitch pattern used and they also have a really good diagram of the shape of the sweater pieces so even if you do not speak french it is easy to figure out how to make it.

have you noticed how many socks I’ve been knitting lately? ennui is going around I think. though I did just fall in love with kate gilbert’ sunrise circle jacket for it’s construction alone. maybe you need to find a sweater with an ingenius construction like that to get you going again.

Sorry to hear of your frustration. Hopefully it will pass soon, and you will find a sweater pattern that you fall in love with. Here’s the sweater that I’m currently making http://www.onefineyarn.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=LINOVA It’s from the new Rebecca #31 magazine. They have a lot of nice patterns this season. Also, you could check out http://www.garnstudio.com, they now have their entire collection of patterns online for free. You could also try the Bergere de France website (www.bergeredefrance.fr). They have a lot of free patterns too (but they’re all in French). Click on the Tricoteque tab, then Femme, and then click on the Telecharger button for each pattern. And, if you’re like me and don’t speak a lick of French, here is their French-English translation http://www.bergeredefrance.fr/img/BDF-Knitting_Glossary.pdf Hope that helps you!

I’m in the same boat! I haven’t seen a sweater I really felt compelled to knit in quite some time. It’s mostly been socks and scarves and baby items for the best friend’s new baby recently. But I’m keeping my eyes open. I was hopeful for the new Knitty, but didn’t see anything I was crazy about.

Hmm, you know how I love making sweaters and, like many others, I have a long list of sweaters I want to make. Rowan (well, actually Ms. Hargreaves) and Phildar are my inspirations. And I also love the sweater patterns at Bergere de France. I think something will show up for you eventually but, to make you happy, it can’t be like anything else that’s out there. I’ll keep my eye out for you.

I have the opposite problem. I have tons of sweaters that I want to knit and no desire to make much else. What exactly is a girl who lives in Houston-it’s-too-hot-here, Texas supposed to do with a ton of wool sweaters? Wear them once a year? Turn on the air conditioning until the conditions inside the house are arctic?

just an idea… The sweater (store bought) I’m wearing today gave me an idea this morning. I was looking at the sleeves, and Heureka! it’s Jaywalker in the cuffs! And I thought one day I’ll have to make a sweater using that idea. It makes the sleeves slightly frilly, and they are a little wider towards the hand. The cuff is about 3 – 3.5″ long, and it falls about half way down my palm. I love the sleeves in this shirt!Otherwise the shirt is very plain, it’s ribbed all over. They used the same Jaywalker pattern in the collar, but I’m not sure I care for that, I’d probably just do a pretty scoop neck. Could use it in the hem, but that might make it too frilly… Anyways, this is just an idea, and would be a bunch of work to create the pattern yourself, but I think that’s the best way to do it -you get exactly what you want. 😉

Have you seen the Drops patterns? 47 pages of free patterns, and some of their sweaters are really nice! Plus the translations are probably just bad enough to give you a nice challenge. 😉 Takes a lot of patience to sift through them all (I mean, come on, 47 PAGES) but I think it’s worth it.

And at the other end of the knitting spectra, I’m desperately looking for a sweater to knit as my first sweater. I was thinking Peppermint Twist from the first Stitch n’ Bitch for a nice summery cotton sweater…but I’ve never done stripes.

So to take on two new challenges simultaneously or make it a solid…that is the question.

Strangely enough, I barely finished one sweater this year and that was only because of the Knitting Olympics. Recent sweater patterns haven’t been to inspiring. Maybe you should go back through some old patterns and see if there is anything that you wanted to knit in the past but forgot about.

Wow, I wish I had this problem – I have too many sweaters I want to make. I just saw the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk collection at my LYS and drooled over it. Maybe you should design something yourself? Look through Anthropologie or other clothing sites you like, choose something, and go with it? You’re talented and experienced enough to make that work, I’m sure… anyway, hope you get inspired soon!

Don’t forget to include the back issues of knitting magazines such as Vogue Knitting and IK in your search. You can view back issue designs from their web sites and send away for a copy of individulal patterns. I did this to get the Koigu turtleneck (pattern 32) from the Vogue Knitting Fall 2002 issue. It is a very simple classic turtleneck but made from 6 different colorways of Koigu. Yum.

Hmmm. What about Annie Modesitt’s corset or her mandarin jacket thingy in IK? I’m sure you’ve mulled them over, but at least it would be interesting construction. I also like the idea of the sunrise circle jacket. It seems like a pretty interesting construction. I guess I’m thinking that construction should be the thing you are looking for, rather than the overall look or wearability (hee hee), since that seems to be more of what you are interested in.

Or, you know, you could knit me a sweater. I’ll send you my measurements and supply the yarn and pattern. Heh.

I have had the same frustration. However, there are some interesting (free) patterns here: http://www.berroco.com/item_fr/fr_fwsweater_1.html – I might try one or two of those. I also am really drawn to the patterns at Chicknits. Her new ribbed cardigan looks great. Good luck! Can’t wait to see what you find.

Kathy, are you familiar with Hanne Falkenberg’s designs? They have lots of style and are interesting/challenging to knit (which I think would appeal to you). My favs right now are Mermaid and Ballerina. Look at:

I get you. I do not knit sweaters. I don’t totally know why and don’t want to think about it too hard, but I just find it really hard to want to do a sweater. Now, a baby sweater, fine. A toddler sweater, okay.

Yes, I know it is all in Japanese. If you use the first link, click on one of the pictures on the right hand side of the page; this will take you to a series of thumbnails. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture and the relevant knitting info. There are handy picures which explain each link on the right: yarn balls for the yarn, etc. The bottom link with the picture of pattern pieces will take you to a pdf of the pattern. For help with Japanese patterns check out this site: http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/e-index.html. This site is partially translated to English; click on button at top of page.

Nothing wrong with not knitting sweaters. Nothing at all. Think of all the lovely things you can knit–bedspreads, curtains, boats (not kidding, it’s been done), hammocks, doilies, dinosaurs, bonnets, purses, rugs, sculpture… if you don’t feel like knitting a sweater, don’t! The urge will come again. Knit something else in the meantime. Or just make swatches 🙂

I second the nomination (made by someone else above) for the Girl From Auntie’s latest design. (Eris?) I am knitting the cardigan. It has a cabled collar/yoke knit first, then the body stitches are picked up from around the yoke and knit down in one piece with raglan sleeves and really clever cabled waist shaping.

Sadly I’ve not had that problem, as there are always lots of patterns that I want to make. I am hesitant to give any sweater pattern recommendations b/c you seem to have very exacting tastes that I don’t for certain what you’re looking for. It seems a challenge is evident that you like, but what other elements are a must-knit for you, I’m not sure. Others have mentioned GirlfromAuntie’s patterns, White Lies Design, is another, perhaps colorwork, fair isle, aran work, I dunno. Maybe Hanne Falkenberg or Shadow Knitting? Hmm, there are lots of options, hopefully something will interest you soon.

I have the opposite problem. I can’t stop knitting sweaters long enough to finish much else. I keep thinking of other projects but, when push comes to shove, it’s always the sweater that is my fallback position. Although I am on my third pair of Jaywalkers!

I’m having the same problem. Finding just the right sweater pattern is tough. However … the Cascade Pattern is speaking to me. So, you may not have solved your own problem but you solved mine! Enjoy the socks and accessories — it if perfectly acceptable to knit small things. They give us good “finished” feelings.

The new Fiona Ellis Cable book has some great pieces, and they aren’t all bulky and “let’s add 20 lbs to your figure”, AND colour work – that is my currrent obsession, and looking at all the sweaters in Poetry in Stitches and the like, is very inspirational (at least for me). Am also contemplating knitting one of these Norwegian lovelies in cotton (gasp) for a spring/fall thing. Just a thought.

I am feeling your pain. I can’t seem to get excited or even intrigued by any of the new magazine. And Sheep and Wool is approaching and I lack inspiration ??

I was thinking about making “Cheese Wiz” until I saw all the trouble you had with it. Nothing frustrates me more than a poorly written pattern. I don’t suppose you wrote up the changes you made? I just looked at their web site and they don’t seem to have any errata.